"A person cooking is a person giving: Even the simplest food is a gift."

Laurie Colwin

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Tarted-up treats

And so the day came when I wanted a no-brainer to take
with me to a Melbourne Cup barbeque.It
was my day off and I was too far away in the land of the Letharges to make
anything, but I didn’t want to buy anything, either.That’s how it goes when you have too much
pride in your cooking and you’re a bit of a cheapskate.

Enter what Wikipedia calls "Chocolate-coated marshmallow treats", but which go by many names around the world: Chocolate Royals here in Oz, Tunnock’s Tea
Cakes in the UK, Mallomars and Marshmallow Supremes in the US, and Chocolate
Whippets in Canada among them. I was
going to tart two dozen of these “little nippley things” (as someone at the
barbeque called them) up.

Now. In
aforementioned tarting-up, I have to mention that – to the dismay of my
professional cookery teacher decades ago – I don’t do garnishes. Or rather, I only do garnishes that
contribute to the dish and/or unify the components in some way, and nothing
else. That’s why I chose the two things
in my pantry that I felt would contribute in flavour, contrast and
texture: sea salt, and toasted coconut
flakes.

Things I could have used but
didn’t because I deemed them silly and irrelevant:

* Coloured sprinkles

* Flowers from my garden

* Cupcake decorations

* Dust from my vacuum cleaner.

So tart up these treats whichever way you want, but
remember that just because the melting surface can adhere just about any
non-goopy topping, that doesn’t mean it should.
What I’d keep in mind is that these treats are intensely sweet to begin
with, so not-so-sweet toppings are best.
The sea salt flakes and toasty coconut made these very delicious, and
they were just inhaled in record time.
Although children loved them, everyone agreed that the toppings made
these bikkies a very adult treat indeed.

This is as melty as the treats should get. A few seconds under the grill, and no more, or you will have deconstructed chocolate-and-marshmallow puddles on your hands.

CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOW TREATS WITH SEA SALT AND COCONUT

This isn’t a recipe, just a technique, so just FYI, you
can blast these with your trusty blowtorch in you like, you crazy pyromaniac,
you.

1. Preheat the
grill or salamander (broiler) to high.
Line a baking pan with parchment paper, and place your treats on it,
bottom side down. Place under grill or
salamander (broiler) for just a few seconds, until chocolate begins to
melt. Now – when I say “a few”, I mean,
like, three seconds. Watch them like a
hawk!

2. Remove pan from
grill and immediately sprinkle treats with sea salt flakes or coconut flakes to
taste. Place in ‘fridge to set before
serving.

6 comments:

Yes, they are delectable mallomars here - and I will never enjoy one again unless it has sea salt and toasted coconut! I would consider dust from my vacuum because it is cost effective but you're right - it wouldn't add to the dish.